hey everyone,
i know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath to hear about what i’ve learned in my online dinosaur class so here’s an update!
i have just completed week 4 of the 12 week course.
so far, we’ve covered -
appearance & anatomy
death & fossilization
eating
moving around
some interesting things i have learned so far:
1. a major skeletal difference used to sort dinos is the pelvis (their hips don’t lie)
2. taphonomy is the study of all natural processes that involve an organism after it dies
3. dinosaurs SHED THEIR TEETH! some types of dinosaurs had over 1000 teeth over their lifespans
4. cololites are fossilized gut contents (not to be confused with coprolites which, of course, are fossilized poop)
5. we don’t use the terms warm or cold-blooded anymore. we use endothermic or ectothermic (and sometimes, like in the case of the leatherback turtle, we use gigantothermic). endotherms use metabolic processes to regulate body temperature (sweating, panting) and ectotherms adjust their internal temperatures through behaviours in their environments (like heristopheles laying on a warm rock).
one third of my way through the course and loving it so far!
